Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! In just a few days we will be celebrating the lunar new year that the Chinese community throughout the world follow. This is the year of the dragon, the only mythological animal among the twelve animals that represent the zodiac signs of the Chinese lunar calendar. The dragon represents power, wealth and wisdom. The Chinese believe that being born in the year of the dragon is auspicious. Many marriages are held right before the year of the dragon because couples want dragon babies. Little did I know about this but I think I was lucky because 24 years ago I gave birth to my son, a dragon boy. He is still working on his wealth and power but he's pretty wise for his age. They say that you have to be pregnant by May 2012 in order to have a dragon baby.

Remember those little give aways that the Honolulu Festival will be giving out to those first in line to enter the Hawaii Convention Center on March 3rd and 4th. This year the Honolulu Festival is creating a dragon decal, something new! You will only be able to get one of those at the Honolulu Festival so make sure to come early. It will definitely be worth waiting in line for. Please come and enjoy all aspects of this wonderful cultural event. Aloha and Kung Hee Fat Choy.

The 17th Honolulu Festival

The Experience

Underlying the celebrations of this year’s Honolulu Festival was the sorrow and uncertainty generated by the earthquake and tsunami off Japan on March 11^th. (Why do these major events seem to happen on the 11^th?) But in spite of that, organizers decided to carry on with festival events, and I’m glad. This year’s theme, “We are all neighbors, around the world,” has never been more true.

I’m not Japanese. I’ve been around for most of the 17 years of The Honolulu Festival, but this is the first year that I really paid attention. The 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami kind of woke me up, you might say, and made me want to find out more about the island of Japan and its people, where so many people in Hawaii have ties. I had family members in the Tokyo area at the time of the earthquake, which made the disaster hit home all the more. Anxiously waiting to hear from them, glued to the TV for hours on end, I realized more than ever that we are all connected. So I went to Hawaii Convention Center, and to Waikiki Beachwalk. I went to Waikiki Shopping Plaza, Ala Moana Shopping Center, and to the Grand Parade.

At all these venues, groups of people from many Pacific regions shared their colorful heritage on stage or in displays and demonstrations. I enjoyed the photography exhibit “peace gallery” at HCC. Many locals tried their hand at calligraphy, or origami. At one popular exhibit a visitor laughingly struggled to remain upright as portions of a heavy samurai costume were placed on his head and shoulders.

Suga-Ren was a huge crowd favorite with their beautiful costumes and tremendous enthusiasm. The Alaska Heritage dancers were a boisterous group, not to be outdone by the Aborigines from Australia, Descendance. Several of Japan’s many Hula Halau participated, paying tribute to Hawaii’s own traditional dance, and further cementing the Japan-Hawaii bond. Singers from many different genres from traditional all the way to modern wailing rock entertained both locals and visitors.

And everywhere you looked at the various venues were yellow-shirted volunteers and workers. I spoke to several people, some who were helping out for the first time, and others who make it a point to volunteer every year. They enjoy the connection of this international high-spirited coming-together of cultures that seems to grow exponentially.

The Grand Parade kicked off at 4:30 in the afternoon, and as daylight gave way to evening, the crowds lining Kalakaua Avenue seemed to grow ever larger. The groups’ performances along the way were varied and colorfully exuberant. The sound of taiko and shamisen lifted spirits as participants, many of whom had performed on the other stages over the weekend, paraded down the street.

Traditional and modern dancers entertained viewers. Authentic hand-made Samurai costumes took us back into Japan’s history. It’s a good thing the parade route isn’t that long—those costumes are super heavy. Imagine how difficult for them as they fought hundreds of years ago, toiling under the weight! Several mikoshi (portable shrines), Honolulu Daijayama and Neputa floats were carried or pushed by volunteers, many of them students, dressed in traditional happi coats.

Unfortunately the planned Nagaoka City fireworks demonstration scheduled as the finale had to be cancelled, but most people understood.

All in all, it was a terrific display of culture and pageantry. What a great opportunity to share with people you may not interact with on a daily basis. Don’t miss it next year!

The 16th Annual Honolulu Festival is a huge success.

What a wonderful event! All the workers, performers and volunteers worked for a year to make this past weekend a huge success. And it was. Of course my opinion is quite subjective. How should we measure it objectively? By numbers of participants? Numbers of attendees at the Hawaii Convention Center? Numbers of attendees at the other venues? At the Parade? Economical impact on our state? All of that I suppose. But the most important thing is how the Festival impacted each and every one of us personally. Kinda priceless, don't you think? Lots of hard work was put into this year's Festival. Organizers must evaluate all of it in the next few weeks. And then it is time to roll up our sleeves and start working on the 17th! Gee, I wonder what the theme will be for next year? Yes, so much to think about. But for this week...let's relax and enjoy our success! Aloha.

Honolulu Festival to livestream "What's New" periodically from now until the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival March 12-14, 2010

Aloha! Honolulu Festival will be updating you on Youtube and Ustream periodically from now until the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival, March 12-14, 2010. Please stay tuned for the latest happenings and updates. What's New! Honolulu Festival.

Our first release was done on January 15th. Please check it out.











What's New! Honolulu Festival Introduction (English)


What's New! Honolulu Festival Introduction (Japanese)









Honolulu Festival

Alaska Native Heritage Center Dancers from Anchorage, Alaska to participate in the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival for the second time.

The Honolulu Festival Foundation is excited to announce that the Alaska Native Heritage Center Dancers from Anchorage, Alaska will be returning to the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival. Six dancers will be performing for the second consecutive time on March 13th and 14th, 2010. Hawaii’s residents and visitors will once again be able to experience Alaska’s Native People through their dance and music. Last year’s dancing group enjoyed their visit to Hawaii. Not only was it an opportunity for them from the 49th state to visit the 50th and experience the difference in the climate, environment and activities, but the group enjoyed sharing their unique culture with those that attended the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is a non-profit organization that was established in 1989 as a community gathering place for the indigenous people of Alaska. They serve in, “Sharing, perpetuating and preserving the unique Alaska Native cultures, languages, traditions and values through celebration and education.”

The Honolulu Festival Foundation would like to thank Alaska Airlines for sponsoring the group so that they may attend the Festival. You don’t want to miss their performance featuring their headdresses made from the hair of wolverines, feather ornaments and traditional drums.

Hana hou.

Honolulu Festival

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Final Board Meeting of the year for Honolulu Festival Foundation

Honolulu Festival Foundation's final board meeting for 2009 was held at First Hawaiian Bank's Banker's Club on December 10, 2009 during lunch time. Introduction of new board members and updates to the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival programs were topics of discussion. It was a short but nice meeting and lunch.

Keiichi Tsujino, President, of the Honolulu Festival Foundation would like to thank all the board members who participate in making each Honolulu Festival the best that it can be. Mahalo, e malama pono.













First Hawaiian Bank's Christmas decorations

Photographer Greg Knudsen's picture for 15th Annual Honolulu Festival selected as National Geographic's Daily Dozen

Congratulations Greg! Greg Knudsen is a frequent participant in Honolulu Festival's Annual Photo Contest. His photo of a dancer in Daidengaku was recently featured in National Geographic's Daily Dozen in October (Week 4, October 22). Please link to http://twitpic.com/mjs62 or their website at National Geographics Daily Dozen

Terrific Greg, what an honor! Aloha and hope to see you at the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival March 12-14, 2010.

16th Annual Honolulu Festival's first PR Meeting

It is already November and the clock is ticking. There are only 4 1/2 months until the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival. My, how time flies. The Honolulu Festival Foundation had their first PR meeting on November 3. Some of the topics discussed included new programs, volunteer project, sponsorship, the Friendship Gala, PR activities submitted by McNeil Wilson Communications, Inc. and new web opportunities proposed by Cuteweb, Inc.

Very exciting, so much to do in four months. It is time to roll up our sleeves once again and get going. One thing for sure, the 16th Annual Honolulu Festival on March 12-14, 2010 will be an amazing event. Please stay tuned as we continue to update you on the latest Honolulu Festival happenings. Aloha.


Teruko and Nabe-san of HFF



McNeil Wilson HF PR Team including boss David McNeil

Cuteweb ( Taka Tsuboi and staff)

Honolulu Festival

McNeil Wilson Communications, Inc.

Cuteweb, Inc.

Mahalo Rudi, for all your support to the Honolulu Festival

Rodolfo "Rudi" Ocampo has been video taping the Honolulu Festival for the past three years. Videography is his hobby...his passion! Rudi started to videograph Honolulu's cultural events for Hawai'i's 'Olelo Television about five years ago. He does it for free. The television network teaches those who are interested in videography. 'Olelo also lends their equipment to those who have taken their courses.

Rudi at Filipino Fiesta

Rudi has become quite famous and gets calls from community event organizers to tape their festivals that usually happen on the weekends. That is perfect for Rudi because during the week he is a fulltime employee for The Bus.

Rudi and I keep in touch during the year. He informs me when 'Olelo will be televising footage of the Honolulu Festival. I realized that I have been working with him for three years and I don't even know anything about him. So I emailed him to get together for lunch. He sent me a "cryptic" message back saying that he works Monday through Friday from mid morning to the afternoon and has no lunch breaks, that he's out in the field. I wondered what kind of work does not allow any lunch breaks. Well, it turns out that Rudi has been working for The Bus for over 20 years as a system analyst. Okay, so what is that? Basically, Rudi rides the bus as a passenger and tallies the number of people that get on and off the bus on a specific route. These numbers are analyzed to make the bus system better. I wonder if our mayor uses these studies to analyze the future of our rail system.

Rudi was born in San Carlos, Pangasinan, in the Philippines. The former Consulate General from the Philipiines to Hawaii, Mr. Ariel Abadilla, is his classmate from Ateneo de Manila University. That's pretty neat. His background is in computers. He has worked in Saudi Arabia which I thought was interesting. His love of running marathons has taken him to many corners of the world. He settled in Hawai'i over 20 years ago because he loves the climate here.

So I asked Rudi what he thinks of the Honolulu Festival. Rudi loves the variety of the performances and cultures that Honolulu Festival offers. He loves to meet the performing groups and get to know them, especially those that keep coming back. He gets many requests from them to tape their performances. He then edits it and sends them copies for a nominal fee (just the cost of the tape). Rudi received an award from 'Olelo Community Television for his work that he did for the Honolulu Festival in 2007. Great job!



Rudi, on behalf of the Honolulu Festival, thank you for all your time and hard work. We hope that "Papu" ("patriarch" in Filipino) will continue to support this annual event. Salamat po!














By the way, we went to eat nabe at Ichiriki, right on Piikoi across from Payless Shoes. I know, why would we eat Japanese nabe when it's so hot outside? Well, Rudi was feeling a bit run down so the hot pot was perfect. The restaurant is beautifully decorated in a modern Japanese style and it is air conditioned. Their lunch menu is really reasonable and delicious. Healthy too with lost of veggies. We chose the Ichiriki and pirikara broth. We had tsukune, chicken, and all sorts of vegetables.I should have taken more pictures of the food as we slowly cooked our meals by ourselves but I got carried away talking and eating. Sorry about that. We shared the ujikintoki for dessert, a mountain of finely shaved ice soaked with bitter green tea, topped with azuki beans and a blanket of condensed milk, and dotted with mochi balls. Yummy! If you have never been to Ichiriki...gotta go. Aloha.

Honolulu Festival

Kuwayama Family from Japan at the Honolulu Festival

It was Saturday of the Honolulu Festival. Very busy all day long so I stopped to take a break. I had been planning all morning long to buy the okonomiyaki for lunch. All the tables in the dining area were taken so I joined the table of a Japanese family,a young couple and baby boy. They looked like they lived in Hawaii. Got around talking to them and found out they were visiting for two weeks from Shinagawa, Japan. Two weeks...pretty nice. Interesting to find out that the young man's mom grew up in Hawaii but moved to Japan, got married and still lives there. They were visiting the mom's mom, his grandmother, who is 95 years old and lives by herself in Moiliili. They wanted her to meet her great grandson Koichi. I thought that was so nice. So I took their picture and promised to post it on my blog. In the meantime I emailed them the picture and got such a nice note. Thought I'd share that with all of you:

Thank you for sending us the photo!
We couldn't find it on the Website
so we're very happy to receive it via email.

We had fun at the Honolulu Festival.
Our 95 year-old grandmother loved the parade,
and kept standing in the crowd watching it for 2 hours!

Mahalo!

From the Kuwayamas in our Shinagawa home

I guess it is these sort of experiences that make me feel good about the Honolulu Festival. I hope that the Kuwayamas come back next year! Aloha.

Honolulu Festival gets ackowledgement from Honolulu City Council

The City Council of Honolulu presented two honorary certificates on Wednesday March 18 — one to the Honolulu Festival Foundation and one to Keiichi Tsujino for their work on the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival. Mr. Tsujino, president of the Honolulu Festival Foundation, was not able to attend. However David Asanuma and Tatsuo Watanabe of the Honolulu Festival Foundation were there to receive the certificates. The people in the photo are(l to r): (back row) Charles Djou, Donovan Dela Cruz, Todd Apo, Nestor Garcia, Duke Bainum; (front row) Tatsuo Watanabe, David Asanuma, Rod Tam and Gary Okino.

92.3 KSSK Perry and Price Show from John Dominis

Honolulu Festival and Manoa DNA were invited to the Perry and Price Show at John Dominis on February 28. We were able to talk a bit of the upcoming Honolulu Festival on the weekend of March 14-15, 2009. And Manoa DNA, who will be performing at our Festival, was kind enough to perform two numbers for the audience.
We all got to enjoy the wonderful entertainment of Perry and Price. Karen Keawehawaii sat in for Larry. She's hilarious. Sweetie Pacarro kept the show moving along. And Michael Perry, such a smooth voice.
Thank you for always supporting the Honolulu Festival every year!




Honolulu Festival

94.7 The WAVE-Honolulu Festival Interview

Hi folks! Yes, we’re all getting ready for the Honolulu Festival. It’s next week! We were given the opportunity to promote our event on radio, 94.7 The WAVE. This Los Angeles radio station happened to be broadcasting from the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina. The show airs live in L.A. from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. with Ms. Pat Prescott.

We hope that the Los Angeles people listening to the station will pack their bags and head to beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii! The weather is great and there’s so much to do. Sun, swim and…come enjoy the Honolulu Festival!

Aloha.


Honolulu Festival
94.7 The WAVE

Okonomiyaki at Ennichi Corner was a hit!

For those of you who are not familiar with okonomiyaki, it is a type of Japanese pancake/crepe that is made at ennichi in Japan. In Honolulu you can eat it at Chibo's Restaurant at the Royal Hawaiian Center. It is quite filling made with a flour batter, vegetables, meat and seafood. "Okonomi" means "as you like" and "yaki" means fried. So you are able to pick the type of meat or seafood to go into your okomiyaki. The type that was served at Ennichi Corner at the Honolulu Festival is Hiroshima style with plenty of cabbage, green onion, tenkasu (morsels of leftover tempura batter), yakisoba (fried noodles) and thin slices of pork belly. You can't forget the okonomi sauce that is poured over the finished product. Honolulu Festival's was Otafuku okonomi sauce.
Sammy Li, owner of Sammy's Restaurant in Waikiki's Miramar Hotel, was in charge of the okonomiyaki for the Honolulu Festival. He and his staff practiced and prepared to make plenty of okonomiyaki.
The Honolulu Festival was fortunate to have Wanda Adams, Honolulu Advertiser's Food Editor, come to Sammy's and learn about okonomiyaki and its history. Ken Saiki, President of Honolulu Hiroshima Kenjinkai, explained in detail the facts behind making okonomiyaki. We were able to see Chef Winston cook some for us and were even able to sample some. Oishii!
Wanda's article about okonomiyaki was in the Island Life section of the Honolulu Advertiser on March 11th. I'm sure that folks reading the article couldn't wait to taste the okonomiyaki at the Festival. Turns out that there were lines in front of Sammy's booth on both Saturday and Sunday. It was delicious!




Honolulu Festival


Honolulu Advertiser-Island Life